I heard a lot about Marine Le Pen and certainly the polls tell a good story for the leader

of the Front
National. She has certainly shown she can mount a campaign and get the media to accept a sense
of change. When even her enemies refer to as Marine, rather than the more toxic Le Pen, that is
something of a success. But whenever I have heard her, I have not heard a powerful argument for
the future of France.

So France enters a fascinating period, where not one single person I met predicted the outcome of
either first or second round without at least some doubt in their eyes. When things are so tight,
communications can make the difference. It is not a dirty word.

I don’t agree with all of Seguela’s analysis. I don’t accept that only four US presidents radically
changed the country. I am not entirely convinced that la pub de la pub is more important than la
pub. I am not sure that David Cameron’s loss of a child had the political impact Seguela thinks it
did. I think Brits will be also be surprised at the dominant role he gives in the Tory campaign to his
colleague David Jones. I think he overstates how Sarkozy is seen in the world. I agree with him that
we need to be cautious about the potential abuse of the internet which has no global governance or
regulation to match, but I’m not sure I agree this risks being  ‘en bras arme de l’anarchie’. But it is a
book full of understanding of some of the big themes and the small details required for a successful
campaigning mindset.